Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 14 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Hypothetical

Now that we had Kudou and Dora with us, the monsters in our path were no longer a problem. Upon encountering any, Dora launched a violent assault, Kudou used magic to intercept any who slipped through to attack the rear guard, and I took on any who managed to get past that. Depending on the circumstances, I considered using my “left arm,” but it hadn’t come up yet.

“Heh heh. We really do seem to have good affinity,” Kudou said after the din of battle faded.

“Setting aside matters of affinity, we have a good division of labor going,” I said.

“Indeed. It feels good to be able to cooperate so well.”

“I don’t know if it feels good, per se, but it is less stressful.”

While it seemed that we had gone off on a few tangents, Kudou was enjoying himself. It’d been about half an hour since we joined up; after walking the entire time and fighting the occasional battle, he was looking a little tired. Unlike me, he couldn’t enhance his body with mana, so there was no helping that.

He didn’t look that fit to begin with. It seemed like he had even less muscle on him than when we’d first met. Kudou had been on the move until he found me, so what little stamina he had had already been exhausted. I couldn’t push him too hard.

“Should we take a break?” I suggested.

“I can still keep going,” he said. “We should be linking up with your servants soon, right? In that case, we can rest after that.”

Rose and Lobivia were nearby, but we still hadn’t found them. This place was like a maze, so it wasn’t that strange for this to happen. Still, now that we were this close, it was only a matter of time.

“Got it,” I said, “but tell me if it gets too rough.”

“Yes, of course.”

“You too, Katou. If something’s up, don’t hold back. Let me know,” I added, looking at the girl being carried in my arms. I then cocked my head. “Katou?”

She looked a little depressed. Or perhaps apologetic would be more accurate? It was an extreme contrast to Kudou’s cheerful attitude. I had no idea what could have inspired her dour mood.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No, um...” Katou threw a quick glance at Kudou and Dora, then shrank her slender frame in my arms. “Sorry, Senpai. I’m the only useless one here.”

That was enough for me to understand. After hearing my conversation with Kudou, she felt inadequate when comparing his ability to her current state. It was true. Unlike Kudou, Katou couldn’t participate directly in battle. However, that wasn’t the same as having no part at all.

“What are you saying?” I protested. “Didn’t you just heal my wound with magic earlier?”

“That’s not—”

“It’s important,” I said, cutting her off. “I can’t use healing magic. It makes a big difference to have the means to heal our wounds at a critical moment.”

Much like how I’d acquired as much strength as I could so that I could fight in close-quarters combat, she’d done her best to learn healing magic. Both had equal worth. The only difference was the role we each played.

“Do what you’re capable of. Isn’t that how we’ve always complemented each other?” I said. I believed this was important, so I didn’t hesitate to voice my opinion. “The same applies here.”

“Yes... Thank you very much, Senpai,” Katou said, giving me a delighted smile.

She still looked a little down, but I’d managed to cheer her up. That was a relief. At this rate, once we found the others, she’d be back to her usual self. Currently, we just happened to need a more direct form of strength in battle. That was a matter of our lacking capable fighters. Put another way, it could be said that Katou would have no need to feel depressed if I were stronger. Thinking I had to get my act together, I noticed someone’s gaze on me. Kudou had been watching our entire exchange.

“What?” I asked, aware I came across as a little stiff.

This wasn’t out of some trivial concern like being watched by an outsider. I knew I had empathy for Kudou, but I hadn’t forgotten who exactly he was. The high spirits he was in from the moment I first met him were, at most, because of an obsession he had with my existence. The true nature of that was both terrifying and sad.

“My hatred won’t go away. I can’t get rid of my resentment. I just can’t forgive them... How could I?”

“Yeah, that’s right. How could I possibly stop now? I can’t allow such a thing.”

That was what Kudou had once said. Those words had come from the bottom of his heart. The hatred fueling him still raged on, and the only ones with him here were me and Katou. This wouldn’t develop into a problem if my servants were here, but Katou was human. I couldn’t predict how he would act.

He could face her with animosity or hostility, show clear displeasure, or at worst, even do something forceful. So long as I had such apprehensions, it was only natural for me to stand at the ready... That was exactly why it was a bit of an anticlimax.

“No, it’s nothing,” Kudou answered casually. “I was just watching because you seem to get along so well.”

He didn’t appear to harbor any grudge against her. The Demon King smiled in a good mood like any normal boy. I didn’t sense any falsehood in that. The Demon King who was trying to destroy the world had no intention of killing Katou. There wasn’t the slightest hint that he did.

“Hey... Kudou?” I said, urged to speak because of that contradiction. “You said you came to the imperial capital because it’s currently the center of the world.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“What do you want to do?”

I’d questioned this before. I had many doubts regarding Kudou’s behavior. He’d said he would destroy the world as the Demon King, and he’d been accumulating power suitable to fulfill that goal. I’d also heard from Iino that he’d been moving behind the scenes during the fake savior incident.

On the other hand, Kudou had shown no signs of indiscriminately attacking the populace. From what I’d heard, he hadn’t directed any hatred toward the villagers who’d been thrust into danger because of the former exploration team members. Even now, it didn’t look like he felt any ill will toward Katou. Kudou’s murderous intent wasn’t indiscriminate.

Back when we’d met in Aker, I’d interpreted this as hesitation. That’d been wrong. However, if that was the case, what did Kudou actually want to do? I still couldn’t see it at all.

“Senpai...” Kudou said, pulling back his smile.

He stared right at me. I didn’t look away. After ten seconds of nothing but our footsteps echoing in the corridor, Kudou suddenly sighed.

“What do I want to do...?”

Kudou smiled once more. That said, it looked a little different from his usual unreadable smile.

“Let’s talk hypothetically,” he said.

“Kudou? What are you getting at...?”

“It’s a very common question. Please relax and hear me out,” Kudou started, then spoke smoothly. “Say there existed a horrible tyrant. You go back to the past and meet him when he is but an infant. If you kill him, you’ll save the many people he’ll kill in the future, ridding the world of unhappiness. Now then, is killing this still innocent infant, one who will one day become a tyrant, the right thing to do?”

I’d heard the question somewhere before. However, there was a lifelike quality to it now.

“I believe there are many opinions on this. I don’t mean to argue one way or the other. However...” Kudou paused, smiling without any hint of amusement. “In my opinion, ‘evil shouldn’t be forgiven.’”

The reason I felt a little overawed was that it felt like everything defining Kudou lay behind these words. Still, I couldn’t read enough into them to see his intentions.

“Meaning killing him is righteous?” I asked, somewhat perplexed.

“No. Not at all.” Kudou shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong, Senpai. What’s ‘right’ and ‘righteous’ are different. Also, ‘what you should do’ and ‘what’s right’ aren’t necessarily the same. Senpai, you don’t protect your companions because it’s ‘what’s right,’ do you?”

“That’s...certainly true.”

“The act of killing the future tyrant is without a doubt evil. No matter what your reasons may be, it still is. That’s what I believe.”

Interpreting his words was like grasping at clouds. I simply couldn’t touch upon the core of the boy known as Kudou Riku. Or maybe that simply applied to everyone. I shared similar circumstances with him, but we hadn’t gone through identical experiences. We were capable of sympathizing with each other, but understanding each other perfectly was impossible.

If anyone was capable of touching upon Kudou’s core, it would be someone who happened to have been there when he started on the path of the Demon King. However, as far as I knew, nobody like that existed. Perhaps nobody would be able to understand the Demon King’s intentions to the very end.

“Ha ha, please don’t put too much thought into it,” Kudou said, his unreadable expression returning to normal. “This is no more than idle chatter.”

He did have a point there. From the very beginning, talking about something like this wasn’t going to change anything. That was why Kudou had chosen this topic. I knew that, but...

“What does it matter what I think about anything?” Kudou added. “I’m the Demon King. I resent the world. That’s all there is to it.”

“That’s wrong,” I said. I felt like I had to say this. Even if I couldn’t understand his intentions, there were other things I did know. “Even if that’s all there is to you, there are those who think otherwise.”

Today, having spoken with Dora too, there was one thing I was able to reconfirm. It was regarding that gallant wolf, Berta. She was different from Kudou’s other subordinates. She knew Kudou was going to keep running toward his own destruction, meeting an end filled with despair. She prayed that he would at least find salvation. Such a manner of devotion would be impossible for her if Kudou only saw himself as the Demon King.

“There’s someone out there who wants you to find salvation, after all,” I said.

“Berta, you mean...” Kudou realized whom I meant right away. It was a little unexpected. “So it’s been thinking of such things...?” Kudou let a bitter smile show. “Good grief. That one really is a failure.”

That was a rather horrible thing to say. Just as always, the Demon King was cruel to his noble servant. However, seeing his face, I was caught off guard. Uncharacteristically for him, Kudou truly looked troubled.

In all likelihood, he hadn’t realized it himself. If he had, he wouldn’t be exposing such a vulnerable expression. If I’d had just a little more time, it might’ve been possible for me to figure out what it meant. Before I could, the situation changed.

“My king. Please be careful,” Dora said, raising a warning tone. Her eyes sharply glared in the direction we were going. “Something has collapsed up ahead.”